We’re not meant to do this life thing by ourselves.
By: Vanessa Burnett . – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
🦋 🌪️ I’m having some life transformation action over here. Someone on the Facebook pointed out the other day that like all of the aspects of my life are transforming. It’s true. A whole lot of them are.
It’s funny because a big piece of my life is here in this ether space. The connections I have online are a part of my day-to-day life.
Then there are all of these other pieces. I know this is true for all of us here. We don’t see every piece of any one person’s life. We can’t. Even children. Or spouses. It can’t be done.
Out of respect for all of the other people involved, I’m not talking online about a whole bunch of what’s going on in my life.
Some of it is beautiful beyond imagination. Some of it is quite terrifying. I’m pretty pissed off about some. Deeply angry. Deeply grieving. Deeply hopeful. Deeply sad. Full of love. Full of gratitude. Freaked out. Uncertain. Hurt. Surprised. Strengthened. Heartened. Worried. Steeled. Fired up. All of that stuff.
I talk a lot about empathy, and I’m going to try and do that more.
One of the reasons why is because of exactly this kind of situation(s). Because we never know what anyone else is experiencing at any given moment. There’s some pretty serious intensity in my life right now. But we all know that’s not unique to me. It’s not unique those who I am navigating stuff with offline.
Every day here online with well over a thousand Facebook connections, I see struggle. Cancer. Assault. Joy. People living the dream. People celebrating years of love. People falling in love. People having crazy dating stories. Sudden tragedy. Powerful moments. Loss of people and pets and places. Insight. Anger. Hurt. Inspiration. Faith. Grace. Beauty.
We’re not meant to do this life thing by ourselves.
We’re damn lucky when we can find a good people to go through it with. Even if it’s just for a moment. Or if it’s for a lifetime. Damn lucky.
Yet things iterate. Some people are there through certain periods. Things shift. And it’s okay. I had a fire friend who used to say the only constant is change. And so it is. Now the majority of people I’m close to aren’t even fire people. They’re people in this big fight for the soul of our country, or spiritual or coaching connections. Or very old friends. Lots of new friends. A hell of a lot of strong women actually… through all of the circles. Which is such a change for me after a career spent with mostly men.
I don’t know how all of this transformation is going to shake out. Some of it frankly terrifies the living daylights out of me, which of course I already said. Yet at the same time, there ia absolutely incredible breathtaking potential. Hope. Light. Power. Strength.
As this transition transitions, people have shown up that I didn’t expect. In so very, very many ways.
I hope that I’m showing up for people too. I hope that’s happening. Sometimes the ways I think that I am showing up for people may not be the ways people need showing up for. So I’m working on figuring that out. It’s ongoing.
We learn and grow and evolve. I had a boss who told everybody every day to keep the faith. He signed every email that way. He ended every phone call that way. Even through terrible tragedy, he kept it up.
None of us have all of the answers. When any of us are navigating some chaos, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I’m not going to lie: I’ve been there fairly often in my life. Way more so than I’d have liked.
Yet my life iterates too. It iterates as much as my connections do.
Overall, the arc of it is a spiral upward. Dreams I had years ago have been realized. Visions I have had of potential have coalesced into clarity. Paths have unfolded where before there was only fog. Or a trace of a trail and a hint of beauty down a path that may not really exist. Or perhaps that you have to create yourself.
We’re in this together. And I’m grateful for everyone here. Okay most everyone.
I don’t know what the hell is going to come through in all of the things that are changing in my own personal life right now. Let alone the big picture.
I do know we’ve got good people. I have no doubt about that. We’ve got good people.
When I talk about keeping the faith, part of that faith is knowing we’re going to get through stuff because we’ve got good people.
When I wonder how all of this transformation everywhere will go, I remember.
We get through it with each other.
#KeepTheFaith ⛩️
#LightItUp ⚡
#ShiftTheCountry 〰️
Vanessa Burnett is a disruption coach and consultant at Counterfear.com, helping people and organizations navigate and create disruption. A career in disaster management, resilience-building, infrastructure, and technology innovation informs her current work. Vanessa is also the President of the Shift the Country PAC, working to foster tipping points across the US through connection, community, and resilience to create real world shift.
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